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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593294">How Would You Rate Your Experience?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/4246FeetBelow/pseuds/4246FeetBelow'>4246FeetBelow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>No Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Afterlife, An exploration of the afterlife, Death, Douglas Schneider, Psychedelic, life and death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:27:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,491</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26593294</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/4246FeetBelow/pseuds/4246FeetBelow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Douglas Schneider, in his opinion, had a very tough life. This is proven in the fact that every night he went to bed alone. He spent his days alone. He kept waiting for death to release him from his suffering, a blank and fathomless void, one that everyone eventually experienced. It seemed like that could be the only place for him to find comfort.<br/>When death does come for Douglas, he finds that it is nothing he could have ever predicted. He goes on an in-depth venture through his life's experiences to discover a host of information and understanding that he never could have discovered otherwise.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>How Would You Rate Your Experience?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With a blink, Douglas Schneider was awake. He looked upon his surroundings with startling lucidity. When he tried to recall some memories from the day before, he remembered nothing in his life had ever been so clear or beautiful. Not for a long time, anyway. He saw the room with shocking clarity.</p><p>He sat up, as he had been lying on the floor. The room was made of what appeared to be screens. Electronic screens on the walls, on the floor, on the ceiling. The room was in the shape of a pentagon, five walls of black screens stared back at him. There was a sort of light coming from them, though it did not do much to illuminate the room. It had a diameter of about 20 feet. This was very frightening, of course. Douglas gathered himself up and ran to the nearest wall, getting ready to pound on it and scream for help. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his bed. Surely this was just a nightmare.</p><p>Just before his fist connected with the screen, it turned on and an eye appeared. It was about the same size as his fist, and he recoiled in shock, falling to the ground.</p><p>The eye seemed to grow a bit larger, and now the pupil was the size of Douglas’ head. The iris was full of color. The colors shifted and swayed, blending and multiplying. “Hello, Douglas Schneider. My name is Lucinda.”</p><p>Douglas, now on the ground after jerking away from the screen with such ferocity, scoffed. He presumed the eye was named Lucinda. Or else it was an alias for his abductor. “What do you want?”</p><p>The eye seemed to consider for a moment, it even looked upwards as though in thought. “I only want to have an interview of sorts.”</p><p>Douglas stared incredulously. “You abducted me to interview me? I don’t work for the government or anything, I don’t have any secrets to share. You’ve got the wrong guy,” He said, holding up his hands innocently.</p><p>“You misunderstand, Douglas. I want to know more about you. I have no interests in governments or secrets. This is an opportunity for you, really.” The voice said. It was feminine and electronic. But whereas the robotic voices Douglas was used to couldn’t quite capture much emotion, this voice sounded wary, but extremely curious.</p><p>A few thoughts went through Douglas’ head at that. Should he humor this voice? Maybe it would let him go home after a few questions. If they were just looking for a story, he had a few good one’s to tell. He didn’t have much left to live for either. No money or secret fortune, no wealthy or famous relatives who would be desperate for his return. For all he knew, this was a very vivid dream. It wasn’t like being here was wasting Douglas’ time, nor would it benefit this voice in any way shape or form. As a dream, surely this would make it more interesting. If he had been abducted, they will gain nothing from the whole ordeal. Even now, the eye watched him, patiently waiting for his response. Douglas sat up straighter, the fall caused him some pain in his back and rear, and he wished there was a chair he could sit in. “Can… can I ask you some questions as well? And can I have a chair?”</p><p>Lucinda seemed pleased. Well, as pleased as a single eyeball on a screen could be. The eye blinked and Douglas noticed something to his right. He stared as a chair manifested out of nothing, appearing as a million pixels that eventually formed a comfortable leather recliner.</p><p>“Is this suitable?” Lucinda asked, “I want to make sure you are comfortable and relaxed. This may take some time.”</p><p>Douglas was about to ask how long but decided that no one was going to come see him anyway, so it didn’t concern him much. At least he had someone to talk to. He wearily rose from the floor, struggling in his old age. The adrenaline he had earlier was extinct, as it was born of fear. He no longer felt afraid, oddly enough. He got comfortable in the chair, leaving the leg rest down. He didn’t expect to actually spend a ton of time in a room with an eyeball, and laying down seemed like he would be getting <em>too</em> comfortable.</p><p>“Thank you for deciding to speak with me, Douglas. I really appreciate it. Some people get pretty frightened by the eyeball thing and start trying to smash my screens,” Lucinda laughed.</p><p>A smile crept across Douglas’ face, but it wasn’t sincere. “Could you put a different image on the screen? It is a little weird…”</p><p>The eye blinked, seemingly complying, and a disembodied head took its place. It was of a young man with fair hair and green eyes. His skin was very pale, and the head spun in a circle over and over again. If Douglas had lost all of his sense, he would say it looked like him as a young teenager.</p><p>“That’s not much better!” He snapped, not caring much for jokes and gibes anymore. “Can you just show a regular person or something?”</p><p>Lucinda apologized, and the head vanished. “What would you prefer to see?” She asked instead of manifesting something else.</p><p>“A woman would be nice,” Douglas said, half-joking. Only half joking.</p><p>From head to toe, pixels aligned themselves on the screen, starting with long brown hair. As they assembled, a face came into being, and Lucinda had decided on a young woman. She was short and thin, and Douglas thought a little weight would have been good for her. She wore a pretty white blouse and a knee-length black skirt. Her feet were bare, and all her nails were painted a pretty sky blue. “I thought this would be satisfactory,” Lucinda commented, seeming to read Douglas' mind as she now responded as the woman. It was as though she was built and then someone breathed life into her. The body became alive, as much as it could on screen.</p><p>Douglas spared just a thought about how advanced this tech was before converting to thoughts of Lucinda’s intent. “Well, let’s begin then.”</p><p>The graphic of Lucinda sat as well, the exception being that it was on whatever passed as the ground on the screen. “There are a couple of, hm, let’s call them disclosures before we begin. I want you to be wholly honest during this interview. And I do not want you to hold back whatsoever. Even if your thoughts are harsh or gross or unacceptable. This will in no way affect what has already occurred on Earth, and so I hope that you will be completely honest with me.”</p><p>Thinking his honesty didn’t really matter in a dream or to a bunch of crazy people willing to capture an old man, Douglas agreed.</p><p>“Okay, great!” Lucinda perked up, seeming eager. Even her voice was chipper. “So, this one may be one we have to talk through a bit, because it is pretty nonstandard from everything else you have experienced. You probably won’t really believe it anyway because no one does at first, but you will just need to bear with me while we move forward and you will get all of the evidence that you need as we go through our journey here.”</p><p>Douglas paused at that. “This is just an interview, right?”</p><p>Lucinda’s eyes flashed. Douglas thought this was an odd thing for a computer to mimic. “This is whatever you need it to be. I promise that it will be rewarding.”</p><p>Her words did nothing to comfort him. “Okay, well go on.”</p><p>Lucinda took a deep breath. Another odd thing for a computer to mimic. “Well, Douglas, you are dead. You died in your sleep last night after you went to bed. Some would think that is pretty lucky, or so I hear. That’s how many people would prefer to die, though it does not often happen. You passed at 11:43 PM, and your body has been discovered since then. Your daughter Sylvia is handling things fairly well, and the insurance you had is extremely helpful to her in this very tragic time.”</p><p>As Lucinda spoke, Douglas was feeling suddenly enraged. What was this psychopath talking about? How did they know about his daughter? They haven’t spoken in many years. What kind of trick did these assholes think they could pull over on an elderly man? Was this a dream or was he captive? “What are you even trying to get out of this? I’m alive right in front of you and you’re trying to say I’m dead? How senile do you think I am?” He struggled out of the chair. “I’m not a fucking idiot, I’m leaving now. Don’t you ever talk about my daughter to me, how do you even know about her?”</p><p>Lucinda was calm, and she did not move. Not that she could physically stop him, seeing as she was on a screen. “Douglas, I understand how this story may seem absurd. Afterall, you have experienced no proof of an afterlife, and up until your death you believed that there was a vast empty void awaiting you. But we are here now and at the moment your physical body on Earth has entered the early stages of decay. It no longer hosts a consciousness.”</p><p>Douglas laughed without humor. “Then show me my corpse! Produce a body for me,”</p><p>Lucinda shook her head. “I cannot, it has been crema-”</p><p>“Ah, cremated of course. How convenient! Where is the door, Lucinda?” Douglas was feeling along the screens, searching for a crease or handle anywhere.</p><p>The graphic of the woman was ever-calm, as though waiting out the hysterics. “There are no doors in this room, Douglas. This is because you no longer even have a body. You do not need doors to enter or exit.”</p><p>Now Douglas really believed this was a crazy dream. “I must really be afraid of dying if I’m dreaming of this,” he muttered, giving up his search for a door on the assumption that this really was all in his head. He took a spot back on the recliner.</p><p>“Believing that this is a dream does no harm,” Lucinda said politely. “But I am sure I will convince you of the truth. Are you ready to begin?”</p><p>“I actually have a question first since I’m supposedly dead in this dream. How do I have a body now if it was cremated?” Douglas felt confident that he had just poked a hole in his terrible dream logic, and had a smug smile.</p><p>Lucinda surprisingly responded in stride. She waved her hand in front of her face once very slowly, blocking her view of Douglas for a brief moment before all she could see was nothingness where his body had once been. “Simulating a body is an easy task. It is a body you remember and that you are familiar with. You have no memory of ever being without it. But this is your experience without your body restraining your consciousness.”</p><p>From Douglas’ view, he could just suddenly see more of the room. In fact, it was as though he was looking in every single direction at once, he could see everything. It was as though the world before had been a 2-D, 8-bit video game and he had just taken off the virtual reality goggles. Every little detail was clear and concise. Lucinda was very obviously not a computer, rather the computer was a medium of communication. Lucinda herself appeared to be a sort of energy, not to be seen but sensed. It was a different sort of visible above sight. With this new vision, he could imagine the world. So beautiful and full of life. Something to be honored and studied and explored. What good could he do? This could solve all of the world’s problems. What petty issues and foolish dilemma’s plague the human race. That is only because they cannot sense the universe like this. This could change everything. Unfortunately, Douglas’ new view was limited to the screened room, and it suddenly felt like a prison to him. He wanted to explore the world, the universe, he wanted to experience everything. Pain, pleasure, sorrow, joy. It was too enticing; how dare Lucinda keep him from it?</p><p>Suddenly it felt as though he was forced into a new prison, something with long arms and legs, a head, a torso, filled with aches and pains. Filled with emotion and memories. Filled with blood and bones and weak little organs. Filled with regrets. He gasped, feeling a body that felt like a distant dream. He suddenly wished it had been. “What was that?” He breathed. His hands were shaking. His body felt so heavy. So, so heavy. It felt oily and disgusting and… alive.</p><p>“Five seconds of consciousness without a body. I know what you were feeling, and I understand. I understand as well that you could conquer every problem and cure every societal and human ailment if you could just go explore. I know that what you felt and experienced are of the utmost importance, but at the moment we are not focusing on that. We will get there, Douglas. We will discuss it later, believe me. Those issues are not yours to focus on right now.”</p><p>Douglas felt a crushing sadness then. The answers were in his grasp, what were they? He knew he could help. He could have made Earth a better place. What had he seen? What had happened? Even now the memory was growing so distant, so faint. His thoughts from before were being blurred. Blurred by being in a body? Douglas thought to himself. “Wait, is this actually real? What I just felt, is that all real? What is real?” He cried to Lucinda, the realization that he was dead finally seemed very real to him.</p><p>Lucinda stood, then, and seemed to want to comfort Douglas. “It’s all real,” She said, her smile was small, but genuine. “We should move on to the interview now, though. It is important that we do it. In time you will begin to understand. This will all begin to make sense to you again.”</p><p>When she spoke the words, Douglas started to believe them. The perspective he had before seemed to give her more credibility, though it was hard to restrain himself when he felt so impatient. He wanted answers now. He wanted the full truth straight up, no pussyfooting or comforting. But he was convinced that she would give him what he wanted if he followed her direction. He just had to force his patience. “Okay,”</p><p>Lucinda smiled warmly and sat back down. “Okay, Douglas. Now in your entire time on Earth as Douglas Schneider, on a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your experience?”</p>
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